Suzzanne Races for Gold – The Different Kind

18 months ago, I watched the 2012 London athletes compete in the Triathlon at the Olympic Games and dreamed of racing on that course myself. Knowing about my heart condition meant I had to keep my heart rate under 80%, and made the idea seem even more impossible. However, I reminded myself that if you give up without giving anything a go, you’ll never achieve anything. I recently arrived home from London, after competing in the 2013 World Triathlon Championships. It was the most amazing event I have ever raced in, I was constantly overwhelmed with joy and gratitude with being able to compete for my country, at a world championship level.

The last 18 months have been a journey of learning and self discovery, and even though I knew I had no chance of winning a medal, the journey there and competing on the course in London was the most amazing experience I have ever had. Sport is very similar to business, often people compare the two, if you want to improve your business, do you know where you are, or where you want to go? Just like in sport, not everyone wants a gold medal, but winning a gold medal might be likened to getting a new contract or increasing you gross profit.

Sometimes people don’t bother working towards their goals in business because they don’t know how. Over the last few years I have been working with small business owners, running action club business on a fortnightly basis to help those businesses find out what success is for them and where they are now and what they have to do to get to where they want to be. As a business coach, I get so excited when my Perth business owners tell me they now have positive cash flow and are watching their bank balance increase when a year ago they didn’t know what their cash flow was. To me and them, that’s like winning a gold medal.